Japhet Osei jailed for lying to girlfriends, knowingly infecting them with HIV

Japhet Osei jailed for lying to girlfriends, knowingly infecting them with HIV

A man who deliberately lied to two women about his HIV status and then infected them with the virus has been jailed for five years. He even refused the help offered to him by doctors, a court heard.

Japhet Osei kept his condition a secret and passed on the STI to two victims. The 23-year-old Osei did not use protection with a 17-year-old girl and encouraged a cautious second woman to have unsafe sex because she was his girlfriend.

He even lied that a sexual health clinic check-up had found he was negative and showed her a text message to prove it.

Not only did Osei conceal that he was HIV positive, but he also kept secret that his particularly high viral count meant it was more likely he would infect partners through unprotected sex.

Both women, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and were referred to as Miss A and Miss B throughout legal proceedings, quickly fell ill and tests showed Osei had passed the virus onto each of them.

An expert analysis found they shared exactly the same strain of the virus. Osei, of Beecham Road, Reading, admitted two counts of causing grievous bodily harm and came before Reading Crown Court to be sentenced today.

Osei was diagnosed with the virus in February 2014 as a 19-year-old

Alan Blake, prosecuting, explained that Osei had been diagnosed with the virus in February 2014 as a 19-year-old.

Over the next year, he returned to the sexual health clinic in Reading with other sexually transmitted infections and each time told staff he was not ready to tell his family or start anti-viral medication.

"In the Spring of 2015 he formed a new relationship with Miss A who was 17 at the time," Mr. Blake said.

"They met through a mutual friend and at first communicated in social media before starting a sexual relationship. ‘Miss A got a hormonal implant and nothing was ever discussed about barrier contraception."

In June 2015 Miss A, who assumed Osei was STI free, began to suffer from throat pain, aching, stomach cramps and found it hard to pass urine.

Fearing she had developed a UTI, she was offered an HIV test which came back positive. Mr. Blake told the court that Miss A would never have consented to unprotected sex if she had known Osei’s status and reported the matter to the police.

Just weeks later, Osei began another sexual relationship with a 20-year-old woman, Miss B. At first the couple used condoms and the victim had received a negative HIV test result just days before their relationship became physical.